Henri Matisse (1869 – 1954)

Matisse was a Collagist, Draughtsman, Sculptor and Painter. He is celebrated for his use of colour and expressive, graphic style. Matisse was the leader of the Fauvism movement, a short lived yet significant era in art.
Born to a wealthy grain merchant in Le Cateau-Cambresis, North France, Matisse started his career training to become a lawyer. Whilst convalescing with an appendicitis, he asked his mother to buy him a box of paints to eliminate his boredom. In 1891 he abandoned the law and returned to Paris to become a professional artist. He studied at Academie Julian and started by painting landscapes and still life in the traditional style. In 1895 Matisse discovered the delights of the coast of Brittany, where he met fellow painter John Russell.

Matisse was introduced to Impressionism and the work of Van Gogh and later Camille Pissarro. As a result, Matisse began to change his style; his colours became bolder and formed a vehicle for describing light and space. Matisse led the Fauves (Wild Beasts) during the period of 1904 – 1908; a group that included the artists Raoul Dufy and Georges Braque. Their spontaneous response to nature was expressed in bold, brushstrokes and designed to exploit the potential of colour. In 1906 Matisse met Picasso. At first, they did not like each other’s work, but through their years of friendship, there developed something of a creative dialog; intelligently challenging and provoking each other.

In 1941, Matisse was diagnosed with cancer and confined to his wheelchair. His creativity was not diminished and he began “painting with scissors.” This new wave of making was not a compromise. In fact, Matisse refers to it as: “only what I created after the illness constitutes my real self: free, liberated.”

Privacy Policy

User privacy and data protection

We take your privacy seriously. This document lets you know how we will process and protect any data you share with us.

Our data protection policy is based on the following principles:

We recognise the need for user privacy and data protection legislation compliance

We understand we have a duty of care to our clients

We only collect and process Data that is absolutely necessary and in the best interests of our clients and any data collected will be for the purpose of the services we provide

We will never pass any client Data to a third party unless we have your express permission and it is in your best interest

We endeavour to ensure that all our Data is correct and up to date

We aim to comply with

UK Data Protection Act 1988 (DPA)

EU Data Protection Directive 1995 (DPD)

EU General Data Protection Regulation 2018 (GDPR)

Contact forms and emails

If you contact us using the form on our contact page, the information you provide will be transferred to us via email, which will then be stored in our database.

Email newsletter

If you sign up for our email newsletter your email address will be sent to our chosen marketing services provider. Your email address will remain with the marketing services provider, and we will not store it anywhere on our own system. You can request removal of your email address from this service. You will be able to unsubscribe from email newsletters at any time. A link to do so will be at the foot of every newsletter. Alternatively, you can contact us directly to request to be removed from our email list.

Site visitor tracking

This site uses Analytics software to track user interaction. This information allows us to determine the number of people using our site, so we can understand how our site is being used, so we can improve our services. We do not have access to information which will identify you.

You can prevent the Analytics software from tracking your interaction with the site by disabling cookies on your internet browser.

Data Breaches

In line with data protection regulations, we are obliged to report any data breaches. We will adhere to the requirement to do so within 72 hours and will report to the appropriate authorities. This also applies to any data theft.